Soccer has been described as an eco-system. It is now Kevin Blue’s to steward in Canada.
From club to country on Saturday, Vic West will play Comox Valley United in the Vancouver Island Soccer League Jackson Cup final at Starlight Stadium while Canada will meet Trinidad and Tobago in the CONCACAF play-in game in Frisco, Texas, to see which team goes to the Copa America this summer with an opening date against defending World Cup champion Argentina.
That now all comes under the purview of new Canada Soccer CEO and general-secretary Blue. As does all the youth soccer played in Canada. Not at the granular level at each pitch across the country, of course, but at the 30,000-foot level looking down. And not with every provincial or local association, on up to the national teams, always happy with the national body in the past in what has often been a fractious and contentious relationship.
There is still much disgruntlement despite Canada co-hosting the men’s World Cup in 2026 after breaking a 36-year drought to qualify in 2022 at Qatar, the women’s national team looking to defend its Olympic gold from Tokyo this summer in Paris, a nascent men’s system evolving from League1 to the Canadian Premier League and a proposed Canadian women’s pro league.
“We have to rebuild trust,” said Blue, in a Zoom conference with the Canadian sports media on Monday.
“People care deeply for the sport in this country and that’s encouraging. There are a unique combination of challenges and opportunities on the horizon. I have to work with the stakeholders to deal with the challenges and to calm the waters and bring more unity within our sport. There have been some things that have happened over a period of time that have not reflected positively on the organization and there’s a lot of work to rebuild that and I want to listen, learn and connect. This is a critical time for the expansion and growth of the sport in this country.”
Blue did not have specifics, noting he has only been on the job since Thursday, and that at this point for him it’s “more introductory than substantive.”
The Quebec-native and Ontario-resident Blue, 41, was chief sport officer of Golf Canada since 2020 and athletic director in the U.S. collegiate NCAA before that at UC-Davis beginning in 2016. The Stanford University graduate has a lot to deal with in his move to head up Canada Soccer, from the grassroots provincial organizations resenting fee increases, to the CPL to the labour and financial strife involving the men’s and women’s national teams: “One of the challenges is getting the right type of labour agreement and fixing and refining the financials. There are several financial misalignments that need to be addressed.”
A lot of that involves Canadian Soccer Business and the 10-year deal, with another 10-year-option, that organization signed in 2018 with Canada Soccer for broadcast and sponsorship rights that reportedly pay Canada Soccer $4 million a year escalating to $5 million by 2026.
Canadian Soccer Business is owned by CPL team owners. It was a bonanza deal in 2018, considering the then relatively meagre stature of Canadian soccer, and anybody would have jumped on it at that moment to help fund the CPL and the national teams. Nobody could have predicted then the men’s World Cup qualification for Qatar 2022 and the women’s gold medal in 2021 in the delayed Tokyo Olympics that enhanced the perceived marketing value of both national sides, leaving national-team players unhappy with being tied to the financials from the 2018 Canadian Soccer Business deal.
“The largest sporting event in the world is coming to Canada in 2026 and we are ready to take advantage of these opportunities. The challenges [also] are invigorating to me,” said Blue.
But first things first, he added: “Let’s get into the Copa America on Saturday [by beating Trinidad and Tobago] and move on from there.”
CORNER KICKS: Blue was asked about the new Canada jerseys — the light set features pinstripes — unveiled Monday by Nike and quipped: “I’m going to like it a lot as the W’s [wins come] as we’re successful. Then I’ll like it. And if we’re not successful, I’ll maybe like it a little bit less. We are certainly looking forward to it being worn with pride on Saturday.”
